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July 27th, 2013
08:33 AM ET
Why millennials are leaving the church
(CNN) - At 32, I barely qualify as a millennial. I wrote my first essay with a pen and paper, but by the time I graduated from college, I owned a cell phone and used Google as a verb. I still remember the home phone numbers of my old high school friends, but don’t ask me to recite my husband’s without checking my contacts first. I own mix tapes that include selections from Nirvana and Pearl Jam, but I’ve never planned a trip without Travelocity. Despite having one foot in Generation X, I tend to identify most strongly with the attitudes and the ethos of the millennial generation, and because of this, I’m often asked to speak to my fellow evangelical leaders about why millennials are leaving the church. Armed with the latest surveys, along with personal testimonies from friends and readers, I explain how young adults perceive evangelical Christianity to be too political, too exclusive, old-fashioned, unconcerned with social justice and hostile to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. I point to research that shows young evangelicals often feel they have to choose between their intellectual integrity and their faith, between science and Christianity, between compassion and holiness. I talk about how the evangelical obsession with sex can make Christian living seem like little more than sticking to a list of rules, and how millennials long for faith communities in which they are safe asking tough questions and wrestling with doubt. Invariably, after I’ve finished my presentation and opened the floor to questions, a pastor raises his hand and says, “So what you’re saying is we need hipper worship bands. …” And I proceed to bang my head against the podium. Time and again, the assumption among Christian leaders, and evangelical leaders in particular, is that the key to drawing twenty-somethings back to church is simply to make a few style updates - edgier music, more casual services, a coffee shop in the fellowship hall, a pastor who wears skinny jeans, an updated Web site that includes online giving. But here’s the thing: Having been advertised to our whole lives, we millennials have highly sensitive BS meters, and we’re not easily impressed with consumerism or performances. In fact, I would argue that church-as-performance is just one more thing driving us away from the church, and evangelicalism in particular. Many of us, myself included, are finding ourselves increasingly drawn to high church traditions - Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, the Episcopal Church, etc. - precisely because the ancient forms of liturgy seem so unpretentious, so unconcerned with being “cool,” and we find that refreshingly authentic. What millennials really want from the church is not a change in style but a change in substance. We want an end to the culture wars. We want a truce between science and faith. We want to be known for what we stand for, not what we are against. We want to ask questions that don’t have predetermined answers. We want churches that emphasize an allegiance to the kingdom of God over an allegiance to a single political party or a single nation. We want our LGBT friends to feel truly welcome in our faith communities. We want to be challenged to live lives of holiness, not only when it comes to sex, but also when it comes to living simply, caring for the poor and oppressed, pursuing reconciliation, engaging in creation care and becoming peacemakers. You can’t hand us a latte and then go about business as usual and expect us to stick around. We’re not leaving the church because we don’t find the cool factor there; we’re leaving the church because we don’t find Jesus there. Like every generation before ours and every generation after, deep down, we long for Jesus. Now these trends are obviously true not only for millennials but also for many folks from other generations. Whenever I write about this topic, I hear from forty-somethings and grandmothers, Generation Xers and retirees, who send me messages in all caps that read “ME TOO!” So I don’t want to portray the divide as wider than it is. But I would encourage church leaders eager to win millennials back to sit down and really talk with them about what they’re looking for and what they would like to contribute to a faith community. Their answers might surprise you. Rachel Held Evans is the author of "Evolving in Monkey Town" and "A Year of Biblical Womanhood." She blogs at rachelheldevans.com. The views expressed in this column belong to Rachel Held Evans. soundoff (9,864 Responses)« Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 Next »
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The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Daniel Burke with contributions from Eric Marrapodi and CNN's worldwide news gathering team.  |
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Opinion by Rachel Held Evans, Special to CNN
i left the church for a ton of reasons, one being that i couldn't walk in without someone trying to tell me im going to hell. or how i am living my life is wrong, when they know nothing about me. i ran into a church once that told me to live life without possessions, that i don't need them to live.i'm in college and was basically being told go to school without books and clothes i'll be fine. i did a semester with no math book, 3 weeks into the class i was failing and had to drop that class. so much for church.this women shouldn't be writing this because she isn't part of the mills generation. another reason i left church is because every person seemed to wanted to test how christian i was. they wanted to speak curses over me and wanted me to be homeless so they could save me. it became clear people just wanted to by pass truth and go straight for hanging the new dude up to dry because i refuse to put colors in my suite, or i'm young so i can't possibley know how to follow christ. last i got tired of this debt church, the church who wanted me to give away everything so when i needed something i would have to take out loans to get it. give up any hope of ever working to pay for life, left a giant loan take care of the house car and family. it is a bunch of old dudes "well it didnt work for me so why should he get too do what i couldn't" this happened at every church. plus some of us do want more energetic music, the contemporary music just doesn't cut it.
thats precious !
That is what Jesus told his followers to do but he also said he would return to them before they died. still is a stupid idea
If you would simply agree to add expression to your post that includes capitalizing the first word of each sentence, I might find your ideas worth reading. However, there is a run-on aspect to your dense single paragraph that simply says,"I don't know when to stop, nor do I know when an important division occurs in my thoughts."
A simple period at the end of a sentence is a poor landmark because, by its very nature, it is the tiniest mark that can possibly be made in word processing, and has therefore been joined with a space after it and a capital letter for the advent of the next logical thought.
Another possibility is to create a new paragraph to indicate a new thought, thereby organizing your presentation in a courteous manner. You do, after all, expect people to stay with you as you express your controversial ideas.
There. Church is over. Please open your books to page 222 and sing "Bite Me."
".....we’re leaving the church because we don’t find Jesus there....."
Apparently, from reading these boards for the last several years, you can't find Jesus anywhere. I've found very few 'Christians' who truly follow the teachings of the bible. Or even half-heartedly attempt to.
If you really searched you would find then it would destroy your self contained world. You really don't want to find out do you?
Funny thing, I did find what you are talking about, but I had to leave my native Catholic faith and discover Buddhism to do it. Ironically, Catholicism has a rich contemplative tradition, but it's almost invisible.
Perhaps you are confusing Jesus with your personal preferred Biblical translation.
Oh, you mean, the way cheeseball preachers use the KJV because nobody today really knows its language, so the preachers can tell the flock it means whatever they want it to say (and few of their followers know how to disagree)?
So Rose, who does interpret the Bible if not you? I believe we are all at different spiritual levels and capacities. I believe the Bible speaks to each of us individually on the path to enlightenment, according to our individual level. I find the more I study, the more I grow and develop. The more I grow, the more my behavior changes and I get closer to God by following the writings and examples of Jesus. The more I grow, the more my interpretations deepen. The more I deepen the more I grow closer to God. I wonder if this makes sense. Following a churchs' specific interpretations, or dogma is precisely the problem, in my opinion. Growth and deepening are the goal. All is meaningless unless we LIVE life like Christ. Peace
Jesus is with us and always has been. You make an ASSUMPTION on the part of a few. I am sorry you do not know him...but you can if you want to.
maybe in the same way that Santa is always with us even in summer
You are delusional and all can "known him" if all are delusional as you are.
Oh Orge. This is exactly the problem. Others make assumptions, but you don't. You know Jesus, but I don't. If I want to know Jesus I must believe exactly as you? Interpret the Bible as you? Think like you? Vote like you? Pray like you? Go to the same denomination? Do you really believe you have "cornered the market" on Jesus, or God, or all religion for that matter. I judge folks sprituality by their ACTIONS, not what they believe. Peace
Prayer changes things;
A posting troll here. Just ignore and move along. This commenter just says the one thing and nothing more.
Truth is never trolling and there are two wonderful Truths accurately presented here, one in the name and two in the message.
Riiiight....
I've been raising my children not to know God or Jesus. We don't go to any church or attend any religious functions. My oldest is a straight A student and on the honor roll. My youngest is also a straight A student and has an extreme talent in music and arts. They asked me once about their friends religion and I explained it to them why I didn't want it to be a part of their lives. I pointed to the news and explained to them how religion is more hate based than love based, the exact opposite of what they preach. I told them that it will be up to them if they choose to follow a religion when they get older. My oldest said "Why would I want to believe in something that doesn't exist." My children are happy and healthy and have many great and good things going for them. That is the truth.
Denying a child the Truth is the most severe form of child abuse. On judgment day you will answer for your many sins but your worst will be trying to deny your children eternal life.
Saying something is the Truth, doesn't make it so. The bible isn't truth, its stories and fiction.
Child abuse is punishable by law. Not Gods law but mans, and being an atheist, no matter what you may think or believe, isn't illegal. Keeping god and religion out of my children's lives isn't child abuse and nothing will ever happen to me because of it or my children. You prove the very reason why I don't want religion in my children's lives. Ignorance breeds stupidity and you are a prime example.
Actually the Holy Bible is the only Truth mankind has.
You don't have to be illegal to be wrong. You will find out at judgment how wrong you are.
Sure, what ever you say man, what ever you say. Keep living in that little fairy tale world of yours.
There is no fear in God.
I don't fear something that isn't there.
Yes but you ain't got the brains God gave a gopher.
Yeah, good luck with that god thingy. Especially when PEOPLE are running the show.
Millennials? That tag puts me to sleep.
The "god" thingy refers to an idol. I hope you are not trying to insult God.
What god would that be?
Any "god" is a man made idol. But God IS.
God ISN'T.
God IS.....what? Is this a fill in a blank question? Well, thats good, because we all have our own answers, and your clueless point of views only goes as far as your nose. If ONLY everyone who believed in god would go meet him immediately, most the problems of the world would be solved.
You could also say speed laws isn't but the radar traffic cop will disagree with you and prove you wrong. You are wrong about God, dead wrong. God IS !
II hate to be the barrier of bad news but there cannot be some peace treaty between faith and reason. Accepting something based on Iron Age thoughts and ideas in comparison to 21st Century theories and well known facts, is completely idiotic. One is based on evidence while the other is based on wishful thinking. How can these two coincide with one another?
In a hundred years if the Lord tarries your so called facts will be laughed at. God remains a constant.
You're absolutely right. That's why I have embraced Orthodoxy. They still recognize the mysticism of religion. You can accept a reality with more dimension than your five senses connect to, or not. But you can't say that religion makes sense. I've stopped trying to reconcile the two. I follow the teaching of Jesus Christ because I believe He was right. I follow the Orthodox Church because it refreshes my spirit and doesn't tell me I have to deny physical evidence.
As an over 60 Catholic (I grew up Lutheran) , I used to love the church – the fight for social justice, the concern for those in need and working to help them, and the rich tradition that made me feel part of something bigger. For many years now, the church has put its emphasis on anti-abortion/anti gay fights instead of social justice, caring for people in need, fighting to be good stewards of earth, clean air and water. The scandals, where the 'face' of the church meant more than the children made me ill. When Christ is allowed back into Christianity I'll consider going back. I keep hearing that things started going bad when God was thrown out of the schools – I disagree. I saw things start to go bad when Christ wasn't allowed in the churches...Christ was kind and gentle and actually cared about the children. He healed people for free. Ive tried going to other churches as well, but too often it's all the same. Too much hate.
y can't the loud mouth who pretends to b all these idiots prove love exists? huh? any takers? come on girl
dogdo
Trus
captain america
Derrick Yu
Really-O?
Jeff
niknak
EnjaySea
Jenniferrrrrrrr
MsMoron99
Athy
skytag
One one
bostontola
Cpt. Obvious
Bible Clown©
Brother Maynard
Elise
mark
tallulah13
I'm not a GOPer, nor do I play one on TV
Akira
Dyslexic doG
another good reason to ignore Christians
Candiano
On the belt buckleof millions of Nazi soldiers
This long-dead horse apparently needs flogging again
Christian Motto
Wasp
Rory
Open the pod bay door
Agnostickids
Rodents for Romney
Polonius
FYI
Oberver
skytag
Cpt. Obvious
Open the pod bay door
Rodents for Romney
FYI
Polonius
Satan
skytag
Cpt. Obvious
Judica
Rodents for Romney
Righteo
Johnnyboy
My Dog is a jealous Dog
howabouthat
Realist
Attack of the 50 Foot Magical Underwear
realbuckyball
Thor
Cthulhu Cultist
deluded dee dee
bill d
Johnny
Trus
captain america
Derrick Yu
Really-O?
Jeff
niknak
EnjaySea
Jenniferrrrrrrr
MsMoron99
Athy
skytag
One one
bostontola
Cpt. Obvious
Bible Clown©
Brother Maynard
Elise
mark
tallulah13
I'm not a GOPer, nor do I play one on TV
Akira
Dyslexic doG
another good reason to ignore Christians
Candiano
another good reason to ignore Christians
On the belt buckleof millions of Nazi soldiers
This long-dead horse apparently needs flogging again
Christian Motto
Wasp
Rory
Open the pod bay door
Agnostickids
Rodents for Romney
Polonius
FYI
Oberver
skytag
Cpt. Obvious
Judica
Open the pod bay door
Rodents for Romney
FYI
Polonius
Satan
skytag
Cpt. Obvious
Judica
Rodents for Romney
Righteo
Johnnyboy
My Dog is a jealous Dog
howabouthat
Realist
Attack of the 50 Foot Magical Underwear
realbuckyball
Thor
Bill Jamieson
Cthulhu Cultist
Zingo
Tom, Tom, the Other One
The Floppy and Stunningly Ineffective Zombie Apocalypse of Cluckles the Boneless Chicken
idiot wind
faith, changing your screen name and pretending those are all one person only reinforces the notion that you are unbalanced.
A very unbalanced mind indeed. Because one person cannot be posting under all those names. Making a list and then not posting any proof other than the list, means absolutely nothing.
Not to mention that some names appear on the list twice or more. Which tells me that Birdie cannot comprehend that if you make a list of people best to avoid repeats. Yeah, unbalanced.
The purpose of this list is?
The answer is not to be found "in church". As someone once said, "The kingdom of heaven is within you." The feel-good aspect of trooping off together in a gang can be seen in sports stadiums and discos (sorry... raves or whatever). Change the theme, but it's still just people trooping off in a gang and believing they are one idea. Personal truth is arrived at through introspection. Being a "member" of a church only gets you a pennant to wave, or a song to wave to. Try being real to yourself, and the rest will take care of itself.
"Like every generation before ours and every generation after, deep down, we long for Jesus."
What arrogance! EVERY generation???? No! Typical evangelical tunnel vision – couldn't even start to imagine that, just possibly, there were, are, and continue to be people who don't have this weird love affair with zombie jesus.
Great article, depressing comments section. Though it is always amusing listening to baby boomers complain about some other generation being self-absorbed.
Rachel is the equivalent of Harold Camping- the doomsday predictor.
Well, some people are just born that way, to be negative, sour and are always looking for a doomsday to end something, Enjoy your delusions Rachel, you just happen to have access to publish what you write while millions of millennials around the world went to Church this morning to worship God and honor Him.
When politics becomes a person's ident.ity when they write, they have lost credibility to write about the Christian faith.
This article fails for that same reason.
Organized religions need to acknowledge that their scriptures, bible and New Testament, were written by a bunch of men, or told by a bunch of men, thousands of years ago. They were not written by any god. Some of the writing is wise – 10 commandments are pretty good. Too bad so many worship money rather than anything else. Too bad so many don't remain faithful to one partner. Etc etc. however, a lot of the stuff in them is completely absurd. The religious groups need to look at more modern writings. Ones that include volition, inclusiveness for all human beings and so on. Until then they have no interest for me. The Unitarian Univeralist group is the only one that looks promising.
The only thing I know that was directly written by God was the ten commandments, that you mentioned. The ten commandments were a basic starting point from God for the Israelites. Jesus expounded on them in the new testament. Most christians know that the scripture was written by humans thousands of years ago over the course of about 1500 years. However, the scripture is inspired by God and there is a lot more wisdom in there than you give it credit for. It is interesting that the things that the bible hit on are are exactly what you are looking for; freedom of choice, equality and the unity of all nations in peace. The bible isn't written to be a quick read or even to be read once. To really start to understand the scripture and the character of God, it needs to be studied with a thinking mind that is hungary for answers. It would be awesome if the christian community could get more people like yourself who is looking for the qualities that you mentioned. Don't throw out God because of the failings of his people. We all have things to work on to make ourselves better.
Wrong. There are 626 Jewish commandments. Laws prescribed to the Jews by the Jewish god. Someone took the first 12 or so and condensed them into 10 and called them the 10 commandments.
clever
Idiot alert...ignore the child
http://m.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/07/-i-really-i-listening-to-atheists-taking-nonbelief-seriously/278069/ A brilliant response to this argument
People are leaving the church in droves not because of the leaders. People are leaving because of education, information and freedom. The religions(yes.yours too) have so wharped Jesus that he is unrecognisable. Hypocrite conservative or doomsday evangelical they are both based on fairy tales. The good, just, benevolent Jesus is lost to these fools. Islam too will see it happen as soon as freedom rings.
Millennials are not leaving the church,this article is at best written by a disenfranchised (not too biblically grounded) evangelical Or at worse, totally BOGUS. The ("We want our LGBT friends to feel truly welcome in our faith communities") is the dead give away. The fastest growing churches in and outside the US are lead and attended by 20/30 year olds who do not compromise biblical morality and LOVE worship. The article sounds like someone is either cynical or has an agenda.
You don't have an agenda?
Yep...The truth
nobody in the evangelical world recognizes Rachel (author) as one of their own.
You made me laugh with that answer!
JJ,
No one in the Biblical world recognizes you as one it's spokespersons.
Average church attendance on Sunday mornings have falling drastically over the past 3 decades. The current average church attendance is a little over 20 percent of US Citizens attended church last Sunday. That is a little over 1 percent few number of US Citizens attending in 2011. In 1990 there was about 40 percent of US Citizens identified as attending church on the previous Sunday.
These fastest growing churches are attracting those who are not leaving church, but rather looking for church to support their own conservative upbringing and worldview. These are looking for someone to tell them what they already know and give them exactly what they already know they want. This article is presenting the view of those who are leaving and this number seems to be growing.
When I left my church in high school (2002), it was because I felt I was in the wrong place. Everyone wore suits and ties. Everyone was too busy putting up appearances. It was just like the Pharisees, and it made me sick.
Years later it was my passion for science that put me at odds with organised religion. I still consider myself somewhat spiritual, in that I actively monitor my karma and vibes, but ultimately I can't long for a supreme being that never seizes each passing second to make itself known. Plus the more I study these religious texts, the more glaring contradictions surface.
You want to make your church more appealing? Focus more on being a good person, less on "damning to hell," limit it to a strict "no shoes, no shirt, no service" kind of dress code, and make it open to everyone. Give back to your community more, and you'll draw people to you.
The trouble with denominations is that a person who doesn't know the differences doesn't know that not all denominations approach church in the same way. You left one of the "evangelical" churches I'm sure but there are plenty more churches (Lutheran for one) that aren't driven by damnation. Yeah there's still right and wrong (because Scripture teaches this) but forgiveness and gospel are the driving force and not damnation
That will not draw people to church. Jesus said If I be lifted up I will draw all men unto me.
We are leaving because the claims of the Bible are implausible & morally reprehensible.